This invention relates to new and useful improvements in pick up devices and in particular flexible tines used therewith. Such pick up devices are used on combine harvesters, side delivery rakes, windrowers, hay balers and the like and this application is not limited to any particular pick up device although a side elevation of a portion of a combine harvester is shown schematically in the drawings.
The only prior art known to the applicant includes U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,747,313--3,253,393--3,295,302, 1,326,097--3,613,346--3,126,693 and 3,055,162.
None of these show the present structure although U.S. Pat. No. 3,613,346 discloses a pick up tine which is tapered.
Conventional pick up tines suffer from the principal disadvantage that a certain resiliency has to be built in the tine which will enable the tine to be used under a variety of crop conditions such as a relatively light crop all the way through to a relatively heavy crop. Unfortunately, when a compromise is made, the tine only works effectively under one given condition so that under other conditions either lighter or heavier crop conditions, the efficiency of the tine decreases.